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Thursday, January 19, 2017

Disney Cruise Nails 2017

Hello fellow land dwelling friends! We are back from our vacation where we went on another Disney Cruise! We have done a few now and they have been the best trips our family has ever been on. This was our first voyage on one of the classic ships. Can not recommend enough! This was the longest cruise we have done, and I took the most footage ever. It will take me a little bit to sort through it all! I plan on several blog posts and a video. I can't decide whether to divide it up by day or category (food, entertainment, ports, etc) so I'm open to any and all suggestions!

I'm starting today with the mani I created and wore the whole time! I was really indecisive about what to do, and therefore waited until the last minute to do these nails and was up entirely too late the night before we left! Once I finally decided on a color palette this is what followed, 2 hours later!

I knew I was going to again use my Gelous/Seche Vite combo I have used in the past. I have always used textured polish underneath that and didn't really want to this time, so I was nervous how long it would last! I also knew it had to last several days before I even had a chance to take a picture with the ship. I also trimmed and filed my nails as far down as they would go first, less free edge = less to damage.

I wanted a sparkly turquoise so I landed on OPI Tiffany Case, which LOVE but rarely use due to its horrible reputation for staining. I decided to not give a crap about that and use what I wanted to! The sky blue cream is OPI Gelato On My Mind. I tried to stay with my popular Disney combination but I got a little carried away :)

For the ship and anchor, I used the Moyou Sailor Collection 01 plate. First I picked up the ship image on my stamper and then used a tiny dotting tool to fill it in. I didn't do the neatest job, my hands get so shaky when I am concentrating so hard! I filled in Disney Cruise-ish colors and then sealed it in on the stamper with topcoat. When that was dry I peeled it off and placed it on my nail. I knew better but did not apply another clear coat to my nail first so it didn't stick down very well. Won't make that mistake again! It did cause a little wrinkling. I used Tiffany Case for the anchor stamp (which picked up really well! I tried several times on paper first) and then added the mouse ears with a dotting tool.

For the fireworks, because Disney is the ONLY cruise line that has a fireworks show at sea ;) *tagline* I used the Moyou Festive Collection 27 plate which is basically a July 4th plate. (I'm so glad I took advantage of the Moyou Black Friday sale to stock up for all the major holidays!)
I used red and yellow blobs on the plate and used the scraper to combine them before picking up the image.

Once that was all dry, I proceeded to alternate coats of SV and Gelous, until I had a bout 3 coats of each. YES, it was really thick at the end and YES, it took forever to dry!!! I stayed up way too late being nervous to go to bed. A couple of glasses of wine helped ;)

Be sure to scroll all the way through for lots of progress pics and removal, which I just finally did today!

Wed Jan 4, at home

After a really rocky first day and a half at sea we were all glad to land in Key West. It was our first time being there and despite being a little chilly it was WONDERFUL. My mani looked pretty good next to the Wonder ;)

Sun Jan 8, Key West (4 days)

The drink of the day on board was a Key Lime Margarita....don't mind if I do! Although....that's not a Key Lime on the rim. Whatevs haha! Mani doing well 4 days later.

Sun Jan 8, Key West (4 days)

The next day we docked in to my favorite place ever, Disney's private island Castaway Cay. We were nervous we wouldn't be able to dock because the day before the Dream was not able to due to high winds! How mad would I have been!

Mon Jan 9, Castaway Cay (5 days)

Like I said...it's paradise. Even when it's not quite warm enough....

Mon Jan 9, Castaway Cay (5 days)

Pina Colada on the beach watching my offspring play in the sand? Yes, don't mind if I do.

Mon Jan 9, Castaway Cay (5 days)

I didn't take another pic for a few more days, I was starting to get some wear finally. It also helps I'm not in my normal daily routine which is tough on my nails. My nails and hands were SUPER dry the whole time also, partly because you are constantly washing/wiping your hands before you go in to the food areas. They are sticklers about it (which is not bad) but I could just not keep up with it. My left thumb in particular really struggled the most :(

Thurs, Jan 12, at sea (8 days)

This is the night we got home, check out that crazy growth! And I wasn't even taking my vitamins, which I did pack but didn't remember to take because....vacation. There's one tiny chip on my ship nail but you can barely tell!

Sat, Jan 14 (10 days)

I thought I took a pic of my right hand before but I guess I didn't. It was pretty much the same minus a few extremely time-consuming details ;)

Sat Jan 14 (10 days)

Last official pic of this mani. You can see being home, running a million loads of laundry and dishes and food prep and life take their toll on a 2 week old mani!

Wed, Jan 18 (14 days)

Today I did the dreaded (just annoying) foil method to remove the polish to save myself the scrubbing. I put an acetone soaked cotton ball on each finger and wrapped it with a little square of foil. That sets 10 min then you just remove them. My 5yo son found this very entertaining!

Thurs, Jan 19

This is what they looked like right after. The staining was not as bad as I was expecting! I have Tiffany Case on my toes as well, which I did on the ship (it was the only bottle I took with me with the intention of doing toes because I ran out of time and in case something catastrophic happened to my mani!) ANYway, I'm in no rush to take it off my toes.

Thurs, Jan 19

I just scrubbed them with a little whitening toothpaste and a nail brush, and they came about 99% clean! Yay for that. No worries, man! Time to file them down again ;)

Thurs, Jan 19

So there's my little diary of my at home gel mani for a long lasting cruise mani! I did get a lot of compliments on it from the Cast Members which was nice :) I am super sad to take it off but I have to move on at some point!

Like I said before I have lots more coming on the cruise, plus I'm still not through all my Lush Chrismas stuff! I don't know if I'm going to be getting any of the Valentines stuff unless I get caught up. Be sure to follow my blog on Bloglovin and subscribe to my You Tube channel so you don't miss anything :)